In the course of a pregnancy, women typically endure considerable discomfort, especially during the later stages of the pregnancy, and frequently suffer potentially serious physical impairments throughout their pregnancies. Further, some of the same maladies afflict those with particular medical conditions or those who may be obese.
As a fetus develops, it grows in size and weight thereby increasing the burden borne by the woman carrying the fetus. As the fetus continues to grow, it displaces certain organs and tissues within the woman's abdomen thereby stretching or distending certain muscles, compressing other muscles, and adding a notable amount of weight that the woman must carry. This, in turn, can have dramatic effects on the woman's posture, balance, and general comfort.
One of the most common and most difficult maladies to correct is lower back pain in expected mothers caused by the ever increasing size and weight of the fetus. As the fetus grows, it moves to project or distend forwardly within the woman's abdomen causing a weight imbalance. The woman must then attempt to “correct” this imbalance by contorting her upper torso back and her lower torso and pelvis forward thereby repositioning her center of gravity. Such a gross adjustment of the woman's posture results in the adverse distortion of her spine and notably changes in the distribution of weight and forces throughout the whole of her body, particularly in and about the pelvic region and lower lumbar region of her back.
In addition to the above, the presence of the growing fetus often exerts weight and pressures within the woman's abdomen that interferes with or obstructs the normal operation and function of her body. For example, the presence of a fetus usually exerts pressure on various nerves causing tingling, pain, or discomfort, pressure on blood vessels causing decreases in circulation, and potentially pressure on other organs that may results in impaired functioning of the organs.
For years, one of the most common pieces of advice and treatment for a woman suffering from the bodily effects of childbearing has been to stay off one's feet or be relegated to “bed rest.” Both of such directives are intended to alleviate stresses on the lower back. However, such rest may further promote a decrease in stress and lowering of blood pressure. Further, bed rest may also provide an increase in blood flow to the placenta.
Efforts to solve the aforementioned problems have been met with tepid results. Some have attempted to provide various “wedge-shaped” cushions that are intended to be strategically placed in with and about the pregnant woman's body. Such cushions have proven to be no more effective than are common pillows positioned about a pregnant woman's body in a desired and comforting manner.
Yet other efforts have been associated with forming openings in mattresses and other horizontal body supports on which pregnant women can lie, face down, with their abdominal area positioned in the opening. Such efforts, however, have commonly had the effect to induce the women's bodies to drop down or “sag” into and through the openings, causing further bending of the woman's back and exacerbating those pains and discomfort that the woman experiences.
Thus, there is a need for a device that enables not only relief when a pregnant woman, or other afflicted individual, lies down but further targets the lower back in an effort to relieve the pains and stress caused by the weight carried. The present invention and its embodiments meets and exceeds these objectives.
Review of Related Technology:
U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,505 pertains to a pillow for pregnant, over weight, back-pain suffering, sleep apnea suffering, and sciatica suffering persons lying in a prone position. The pillow has an aperture extending through it, and is sized for receipt of a portion of the abdomen of the user. The aperture is defined by at least first, second, and third support structures, and is of a substantially uniform thickness. The first support structure extends substantially traversely across the lower-chest and upper-abdominal regions of the user, the second support structure extends along a first side-abdominal region of the user to end proximate to the person's pelvic region, and the third support structure extends along a second side-abdominal region of the user to also end proximate to the pelvic region of the user.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,059 pertains to a prenatal body support upon which a pregnant woman lies, face down, and that functions to remove the weight and pressure of a fetus within her abdomen from within her pelvic cavity and adjacent her spine and that relieves stresses imposed on her pelvis and spine caused by the weight and size of the fetus. The support comprises a soft, compressible and resilient body with front and rear ends, laterally spaced sides, a bottom surface and a top body supporting surface. The top body supporting surface has a high rear pelvis support portion extending longitudinal and transverse the rear end portion of the body, a pair of laterally spaced abdomen support portions extending longitudinally forward from the pelvic support portion, a longitudinally and transversely extending downwardly and forwardly inclined chest support portion forward of the abdomen support portions, a low forward longitudinally and transversely extending head support portion at the front end of the body and a central abdomen receiving recess opening upwardly between the abdomen support portions and between the pelvic and chest support portions of the top surface.
Various devices and methodologies are known in the art. However, their structure and means of operation are substantially different from the present disclosure. The other inventions also fail to solve all the problems taught by the present disclosure. The present invention and its embodiments provides a comfortable apparatus that is configured to alleviate stresses placed on the body by being pregnant, overweight, or suffering pain from similar maladies. At least one embodiment of this invention is presented in the drawings below and will be described in more detail herein.